List of languages in the Eurovision Song Contest
The following is a list of languages used in the Eurovision Song Contest since its inception in 1956, including songs (as) performed in finals and, since 2004, semi-finals. The rules concerning the language of the entries have been changed several times. In the past, the Contest's organizers have sometimes compelled countries to only sing in their own languages, but since 1999 no such restriction has existed. Rule changes From 1956 until 1965, there was no rule restricting the language(s) in which the songs could be sung. For example, in the 1965 Contest, Ingvar Wixell of Sweden sang his song in English. From 1966 to 1973, a rule was imposed that a song must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating. From 1973 to 1976 inclusive, participants were allowed to enter songs in any language. Several winners took advantage of this, with songs in English by countries where other languages are spoken, including ABBA's song in 1974. In 1977, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Contest's organisers, reimposed the national language restriction. However, Germany and Belgium were given a special dispensation to use English, as their national song selection procedures were already too advanced to change. During the language rule, the only countries which were allowed to sing in English were Ireland, Malta and United Kingdom as English is an official language in those countries. The restriction was imposed from 1977 to 1998. From 1999 onwards, a free choice of language was again allowed. Since then, several countries have chosen songs that mixed languages, often English and their national language. Prior to that, songs such as Croatia's "Don't Ever Cry" (1993), Austria's "One Step" and Bosnia and Herzegovina's "Goodbye" (1997) had a title and one line of the song in a non-native language. Since 2000 some songs have used artificial or non-existent languages: the Belgian entries in 2003 ("Sanomi") and 2008 ("O Julissi") were entirely in imaginary languages. In 2006 the Dutch entry, "Amambanda", was sung partly in English and partly in an artificial language. The entry which used the most languages was "It's Just a Game", sung by the Bendik Singers for Norway in 1973. It was performed in English and French, with some lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian. In 2012 Bulgaria's entry, "Love Unlimited" had lyrics in Bulgarian, with phrases in Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Romani, Italian, Azerbaijani, Arabic and English. 1969 Yugoslav entry "Pozdrav svijetu" was mainly sung in Croatian, but it had phrases in Spanish, German, French, English, Dutch, Italian, Russian and Finnish. As of 2013, only three countries have never entered a song in one or more of their national language(s): Belarus has used neither Belarusian nor Russian since its first participation in 2004, Azerbaijan has not used Azerbaijani since its debut in 2008 (leading Bulgaria to be the first country to enter a song with Azerbaijani lyrics) and Monaco has not used Monégasque, which is one of the official languages of Monaco. On the other hand, as of 2013, there are only twelve countries whose representatives have performed all their songs at least partially in an official, regional or national language: Andorra, France, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. In addition, former countries Serbia and Montengro, Yugoslavia, and current countries Ireland, Malta, Serbia and the United Kingdom, only have been represented by songs fully in an official language. Criticism French legislator François-Michel Gonnot criticized French television and launched an official complaint in the French Parliament, as the song which represented France in 2008, "Divine", was sung in English. A similar incident occurred again in 2014, when Spanish artist Ruth Lorenzo was criticized by the Royal Spanish Academy after the Spanish national selection for singing her entry, Dancing in the Rain, with some lyrics in English. Languages and their first appearance Source: The Diggiloo Thrush Winners by language The Contest's name in national languages This is what the "Eurovision Song Contest" is called in the official languages of current and past participant countries of the contest. Entries in artificial (constructed) languages Three times in the history of the contest, songs have been sung in invented languages. See also * List of languages in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Notes References * * * * * Category:Eurovision Song Contest Category:Language